Scientists have discovered a mysterious signal from space.
Launched in 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was able to detect the signal.
When atomic nuclei disintegrate radioactively, they release gamma rays, electromagnetic radiation that can penetrate solid objects. In addition, the most energetic type of light in the cosmos is gamma radiation. A large star’s existence ends with these bursts called supernovae. Additionally, they have the potential to form after a neutron star collision.
Therefore, this signal confuses scientists and questions their understanding of space rays.
They speculate that a cosmic gamma-ray feature seen by the Argentinean Pierre Auger Observatory in 2017 may be associated with the finding. The similarities in structure between the two occurrences have led astronomers to speculate that they may have a common unknown origin.
Astronomers may be able to use NASA’s surprising findings to either bolster or disprove current theories on the formation of the dipole structure.
According to cosmologist Alexander Kashlinsky of the University of Maryland and the Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA, “It is a purely fortuitous finding.”
A gamma-ray component associated with the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the earliest cosmos light released when the first atoms were created, was the target of the astronomers’ search. Due to its dipole structure, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is somewhat hotter and brighter in one direction compared to the other. Typical explanations include the solar system’s velocity concerning the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
Nevertheless, the researchers discovered an alternative gamma-ray signal, which did not conform to the anticipated pattern of the CMB dipole. On the contrary, they found a gamma-ray dipole ten times greater than the CMB’s peak in the southern sky. Both the source and the significance of this signal remain a mystery.
With this surprising discovery, NASA may be able to help astronomers validate or refute theories on the formation of dipole structures.
